Silver Age begins with...

[kullerfilms]

I've always enjoyed this topic. Let's assume we're going to stick to super-hero comics for this discussion, as most of us would lean that way and the re-emergence of the super-hero is probably the most striking aspect of the age.

Accepted standard is that the Silver Age began with Showcase 4, the 1st Barry Allen Flash. I dunno... seems we should re-evaluate that. It was a tad flashier than the other books of the day, and it did sell a lot and invigorate the genre... but did it really change the shape of comics content wise?

I have a few ideas for 1st silver age comic:

Brave and the Bold #28: the 1st Justice League, and the inspiration for the Fantastic Four. Marvel's rise to dominance in the Silver Age is the real story of this age, and choosing BnB 28 acknowledges the zippy change of style at DC and the very beginning of the FF. A truly important comic.

Fantastic Four #1- If Marvel's rise is the main story, it's author is FF #1. A last ditch effort by Lee to do a comic "his way" before moving on to something else, his dialogue brought Jack Kirby's concepts to life in a completely new way. Perhaps the most important moment in the history of the super-hero comic (aside from 1st's, Action 1 and the like), this book wasn't important for it's characters, but for it's ground-breaking new attitude. Without FF #1 the whole 70s Deadman/Adam's Batman 80s Miller Daredevil is not even possible.

Action #242- the 1st Brainiac, the 1st Kandor. Otto Binder drags Superman into the 60s by reconnecting him to his mythic past. Kandor, the Phantom Zone, and the imaginary story imbue Superman with a whole new level of pathos and mythos. Big book, underappreciated. But probably not quite as important as the others.

So, there's a start. What do ya got?

[Duffman_Comics]

No love for Detective 225 (1st original DC superhero post Comics Code, the Martian Manhunter, for those unaware)?

I also like these debates, because they generally devolve into a shouting match between DC and Marvel fans.

DC fans will maintain it is either Showcase 4 or 'Tec 225 and Marvel guys will always point to FF1.

I don't think a particular start date/issue can be pointed at and the pronouncement made "there's your origin". Comic ages are like a lot of other historic ages that have a 'blurred' beginning, and a similarly confused ending. When did the Renaissance start and finish?

That said, I was once a strong advocate for Showcase 4. Fresh approach to an old character, thus getting the "I remember" comic buyer as well as the newbie.

DC/Schwartz, however, didn't exactly throw caution to the wind here. Four tryouts in Showcase starting in September 1956 before continuing in his old series, #105, in Feb 1959. Not exactly setting the world on fire speedwise and this pattern of tryouts was to be a staple for DC characters, new, old and redone until the late 70's - JLA, Green Lantern, Challengers etc.

It was the introduction of the iconoclastic Fantasic Four by Marvel that really created the Silver Age. Stan Lee was responsible, directly and indirectly, for so much of what we now read and collect. It was his stewardship of Marvel, dare I say it, that stimulated demand for back issues of those early Marvels and had a "knock on" effect with regard to DC and other, Golden Age publishers and their offerrings.

Had Lee issued FF1 and walked away, there would have been no Silver Age. The fact that the book caught on and he was able to create similar "heroes with problems" gave the enterprise the critical mass necessary to succeed. He (Lee) once famously told someone (Martin Goodman? not sure) that he had the "secret" and could make any book a winner. When challenged to make a war book a big seller, he created "Sergeant Fury".

So, there's my 12c, kullerfilms, but you have to tell me the origin of your Board name.

[kullerfilms]

I think Tec 225 is less important than even Action 242. One reason I like BnB 28 is it recognizes milestones of both companies.

And my ID is a play on my e-Bay ID, which you know well. ;-D

[Capitalrecoveryman]

Color films, now I get it. Yeah, I'm slow.

[stupidman]

It can't be B+B # 28 because if there was no Showcase # 4 (or to a lesser extent Showcase # 22 and an even lesser extent Tec # 225), there'd be no B+B # 28. And it can't be FF # 1 because without B+B # 28 (or Showcase #6, Kirby doing the FF before FF # 1), there would be no FF # 1.

It can't be Action # 242 because... well, because it's the same ol' lame-o Superman (plus it's not even the cool Brainiac). Plus I don't see how this book led to B+B #28.

Another reason Showcase # 4 is the start is because the art doesn't suck like the rest of the DC line at the time (WW, Batman, Superman). Infantino inked by Kubert. The art went beyond the lame, simplistic Golden Age style. It was the first book with "Silver Age art" (and I know Joe Kubert did a few stories for EC before Showcase #4, so he musta learned good inking from those guys :))

[pasnat54]

I'd also have to vote for Showcase #4. It was the first attempt to take comic-book heroes out of the doldrums they were in and give them a livelier, "flashier" feel.

You can argue with some justification that Fantastic Four #1 created more realistic heroes and moved funny books into the collectibles arena, but Marvel didn't do it first.

They looked at DC's modernization effort and said "We can do better." And they did, but they built upon a foundation that DC had laid down.

[Shadow-wolf]

Interesting topic, I remember having a discussion a while back with Ironmaniac about the Atlas revival books and how some saw them as the real beginning of the silver age.

http://columns.stlcomics.com/ironslab/III/

[kullerfilms]

<i>Plus I don't see how this book led to B+B #28.</i>

If I implied this I didn't mean to.

[kullerfilms]

You can play the "without this there's no that" all the way back to Action #1. FF #1 (my vote) changed the landscape and defined the change better than anything that came before it (in my opinion, natch').
I'd move the silver age up a bit time-wise, to about 1974-75. The hyper-realism of Adams at DC is really the culmination of Lee's Marvel work, not a new direction. 1974-75 marks new X-men, Wolverine, Punisher, and a new age of non-hero books (horror, in particular).

[stupidman]

<i>Plus I don't see how this book led to B+B #28.</i>

If I implied this I didn't mean to.

Re-reading it again, I don't think you did. Sorry 'bout that.

[stupidman]

I'd move the silver age up a bit time-wise, to about 1974-75. The hyper-realism of Adams at DC is really the culmination of Lee's Marvel work, not a new direction. 1974-75 marks new X-men, Wolverine, Punisher, and a new age of non-hero books (horror, in particular).

Are you saying you'd move up the end of the Silver Age to 1974-75? Dunno about that. Even if Adams work is not a new direction, there's still (non-superhero) Conan # 1 in 1970 and the non-hero (horror) characters started a bit earlier - a vampire (Morbius) and a werewolf (Marvel Spotlight #2) in 1971, Tomb of Dracula in early 1972, and Frankenstein in late 1972. Also Ghosts # 1 came out in mid-1971, and the re-vamps of HOM and HOS started in late 1969/early 1970.

[comicstock]

It's Showcase #4. Undoubtedly.

[jaeldubyoo]

I tend to think of Silver Age as two-pronged, one being DC and the other, Marvel. While DC may have led the charge into a new era, it was Marvel that grabbed the reins and revolutionalized the comic world. The way I see it is DC ushered in the Silver Age with the re-vamping of the superhero genre and beginning with Fantastic Four #1, Marvel actually started the Marvel Age. To me, the Marvel Age really should be separate from the DC Silver Age, sort of running parallel in the same timeline, but in different paths that eventually converge.

[marvelguy]

Are you saying you'd move up the end of the Silver Age to 1974-75? Dunno about that. Even if Adams work is not a new direction, there's still (non-superhero) Conan # 1 in 1970 and the non-hero (horror) characters started a bit earlier - a vampire (Morbius) and a werewolf (Marvel Spotlight #2) in 1971, Tomb of Dracula in early 1972, and Frankenstein in late 1972. Also Ghosts # 1 came out in mid-1971, and the re-vamps of HOM and HOS started in late 1969/early 1970.

What about The Punisher?

[stupidman]

What about The Punisher?


I was just commenting about horror/sci-fi/fantasy type characters starting a new era, since the CCA had finally loosened up about those types of characters. The Punisher was a vigilante villain in a superhero book, so I didn't think he fit the category.

[marvelguy]

I felt that he was more of an "anti-hero" at that time.

[stupidman]

I felt that he was more of an "anti-hero" at that time.

Was he really an anti-hero in his first couple of appearances or more of a hired assassin? (I'm too lazy to pull out my copies).